For a moment I’m transported somewhere else, though I’m not sure where. With the smell of grilling meat and ground spices carried by the cooking smoke and steam wafting through the air, it could be India or Sri Lanka; Cambodia or Vietnam; Lebanon or Iran.

Really I’m in the Inner West of Sydney- Marrickville to be precise. But at the night Street Food Markets, held at the Addison Road Community Centre each month, it feels like you’re in all these places at once.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more diverse selection of foods in such a small area anywhere in the world. Walking through the crowd, stomach rumbling, I face a tough decision. Should I try the arepas from Colombia, grab a Sri Lankan ulundu vada, or tuck into a plate of Cambodian lod cha?

I decide to make peace with my inner glutton and settle with all three.

Besides, any regret I might experience half an hour into a self-induced food coma would be easily offset by the fact that at these markets, you really are stuffing yourself for a good cause.

Vietnamese rice paper rolls being prepared by the team at Mama Made Caterers. [Photo: Tam Allenby]How so, you ask? Well, the event is a joint project between the Addison Road Community Centre Organisation (ARCCO) and the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS). In a nutshell, the aim of the market is to “bring cultures together and support the small businesses of recent migrants and refugees”.

Judging by the good vibes and large crowd that turned out on a cool Saturday night for the second edition of the markets, it was certainly a success. Feedback on the Facebook page was similarly positive.

Having missed the first event held the previous month, I contacted Alex McInnis from ARCCO to ask her a few questions about the aim, history and future of the markets.

She told me that while the last edition hadn’t run so smoothly due to some “teething issues”, with long lines and the stallholders selling out of food, this was more a result of the huge level of support that the community had provided.

“It was just an overwhelming level of support, and stallholders just simply couldn’t cater to so many people… but that’s a good thing. Everyone was really understanding, for a lot of the stallholders it was their first time time trading”.

Stallholders from the Lakemba Community Market. [Photo: Tam Allenby]She also pointed to the real value that an event like this brings to the community and to the stallholders themselves.

“They’re just so excited to do something that they’re passionate about. Employment opportunities aren’t always ample and they don’t want to just sit around, they want to do this: earn a living, and be part of something.”

“Beyond the financial aspect of earning a real income, they’re sharing their food, sharing their culture, getting to know other stallholders, getting to know the visitors…”

With the 2016 federal election now less than a month away, and asylum seekers and refugees one of the issues that will define the campaign of the major parties, events like this one can help with the often negative portrayal of refugees in the media.

A 2013 study by the University of Queensland found that asylum seekers and refugees are portrayed in a visually dehumanising manner by mainstream news sources, usually as large crowds or groups rather than individuals or families.

They argue that this “reinforces a politics of fear that explains why refugees are publicly framed as people plight, dire as it is, nevertheless does not generate a compassionate political response”.

Alex from ARCCO would certainly agree with this sentiment.

“Refugees are talked about so much, it’s such a big topic… they’re being talked about all the time but do people really think about who they’re talking about? Someone’s grandfather, someone’s son, someone’s daughter.”

I spoke to Alex only days after Immigration Minister Peter Dutton hit the headlines for his controversial remarks concerning the “illiteracy and innumeracy” of potential asylum seekers, who he argued would “take Australian jobs” or “languish” on the dole.

When asked about this, Alex’s response was insightful: focussing on the qualifications or education level of asylum seekers is missing the point, and can even be considered classist.

“These are people – some of them educated, some not so much – but they’re still contributing and sharing in such an amazing way, and employment is not always the measure of that”.

The third edition of the markets will be held on Saturday the 18th of June, the evening before Refugee Week kicks off for 2016. With more food vendors, craft stalls and a live band all in the pipeline, Alex is firmly positive about the future of the event.

“I think it’s just growing every time”.

Though its easy to let your tastebuds get carried away when confronted with so many delicious treats, a recent update on the ARCCO Facebook page cements the underlying importance of the markets in the current political climate.

‘The theme for Refugee Week is “with courage let us all combine”- and that’s exactly what we do! In the face of an election campaign targeting asylum seekers and refugees, we believe coming together and supporting new Sydney-siders is one of the most powerful things we can do as a community to break the racism and classism being displayed.’

Coming together through food. It may be a cliché, but in the case of the Addison Road Street Food Markets at least, it’s also a reality.

For the case of Miss Universe 2015, we as audiences witnessed a dramatic incident at this year’s Miss Universe final, the mistake at the crowning moment of Miss Universe was widely publicized. Was it a truly unintentional mistake made by an innocent host? Or was it a publicity stunt which aims to create public interest?

Karen shares her experience and views when she was in Sydney in the following interview:

“I think it’s a mistake, like the host I think he is really stressful about that. Luckily, he realized that he made a mistake and he told everyone that’s his fault. Well anyway it’s not a good news, I don’t think they need to sell it, because a lot of media and people are talk about it, it’s like 50/50.”

The similar thing happened to karen since she was not crowned straight away as someone else was, Karen said she understand Miss Philippines’ emotion whilst she was on stage.

Karen:”Yes similar like my experience. But it’s different because they didn’t crown me on stage.”

“I felt I’m really lucky but I also felt big pressure. Like I said, things have different side. That’s why I think Miss Philippines, she did really good job.”

As one of the organizers of the regional Miss China contest in Beijing, Karen said she will be open to recruit homosexual contestants or contestants had cosmetic surgery done.

“Honestly, I’m lesbian. The point of to be a Miss, that is what you have: You have your own mind and you know how to love people, It’s doesn’t matter if you’re gay or not.”

“For some girls, if they did surgery on their face or their body, I think it’s not a really big surgery, like you just put some Botox or just to make yourself look better, if you think the outside look will approve your confidence, I think it’s a nice thing, why not.” Karen said.

As China is getting more liberal compare to the past, we can be sure that the country will be more accepting as time goes by and Miss Universe is one of the many ways where it can remind the public of people and beauties can could come with confidence and love.

“I just worked for five hours, so I am a little tired.” Said Lily, who is an international student studying in the University of Sydney and has been in Sydney for five months.

About three months ago, she fund a part-time job to sell box lunch in the train station, and she could get 10 dollar every hour. “Though the salary is very low, it can reduce the pressure of my life.”

Actually, the salary of this kind of part-time job is below the average, which is about 14.5 dollar per hour. But most of the international students choose to find a part-time to reduce the pressure of their life just like Lily.

“I can use this money to buy an apartment about 100 Square meters with three bedrooms!”

“I am not the second generation of the rich, and I just come from an ordinary family. My tuition fee is AU$40,000 per year and the cost of living every year is about AU$15,000, which exchanged to Chinese Yuan is about 280,000 Yuan.

So, when I finish my two years’ study, I have to cost about 560,000 Yuan. In my hometown, which is a small city in China, I can use this money to buy an apartment about 100 Square meters with three bedrooms!”

According to a recent report, the cost of study in Australia is higher than in any other country such as the US and UK. The total cost for international student study in Australia, including annual fees and the cost of living, is calculated at USD 42,000 a year.

Chinese students have a large proportion in USYD

Also, Australia has the most proportion of international students—about 20 percent of the country’s higher education enrolments are international, compared to the global average of about 7 percent. Whenever you walk around your campus, there are always people of different nationalities speaking different languages. Among those, Chinese students have a large proportion.

“My parents pay my tuition fee and the cost of living. Actually, they pay the fee by their saving. So I choose to earn some money during my spare time to reduce the pressure of my family.” Lily said with the phone in her hand.

” I often pay attention to the rate and exchange some money”

“I just exchanged my Chinese Yuan to 5ooo Australian Dollar using the app in my phone. The exchange rate of the Australian Dollar to Chinese Yuan is changing in recent months, so I often pay attention to the rate and exchange some money for my study and life when the rate is appropriate to me. Actually, this can help me save some money.”

A screenshot of Lily’s phone when she was exchanging Chinese Yuan to Australian dollar

According to Australian dollar rate, there is a bad news for Chinese students, which means that Chinese students are now likely to get less Australian dollar in exchange for their money currency.

The international student fee t is 140 per cent higher than the domestic fee

The universities in Australia publish both the domestic and International students’ fee on the school website, including the University of Sydney. In the website, take the Master of Commence as an example, which has a large proportion of Chinese students, we can see the study fee for International students is AU$40,000 per year, compared to the domestic student fee which is AU$29,500 per year.

This means that the international student fee in this subject is 140 per cent higher than the domestic fee. Actually, all the subjects have the same phenomenon—international students have to pay more than domestic students.

Simply put, international students are big business for universities and for the economy. Even so, the university increases the international tuition fee every year.

The number of progressed application for the fellowship is limited

The Australia Awards are international scholarships and fellowships funded by the Australian government, which are available to nationals and citizens from eligible countries, which is Asia, the Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

There are also eligible countries, which are in the round of Americas, Asia, Europe and Middle East. The application for the scholarship and fellowship of 2017 is now open and will be closed on 30 June 2016, and it must be submitted using the Endeavour Online application system.

Though there are different kinds of scholarships and fellowships for international students to apply, the number of progressed application is limited. So it is not a good way for international students especially Chinese students to reduce the pressure of studying in Australia.

“The universities see us as cash cows!”

About two decades ago, there weren’t too many Chinese students, while in recent years, we can see a marked difference. More and more Chinese students come to Australia to have a higher degree.

Some of them want to have a high quality of education, some want to become the permanent residence in Australia, and others may want to avoid the intense competition. No matter what reasons, more and more Chinese students choose to study in Australia.

The average international students pay is around AU$42,000 annually, about 2 times as much as domestic students. International students contributed about AU$15 billion to the Australian every year, which makes the higher education the third biggest export.

For the universities in Australia, it is a good way to raise their revenue. So we will not surprised to here the Chinese students saying “the universities see us as cash cows!”

Only one out of the eight Filipino nurses in this photo continues to work in the Philippine healthcare industry. The rest have migrated to other countries to practice their profession. (Photo courtesy: Katrina Entrampas)

At the age of seven, Maria Katrina Entrampas knew that she wanted to become a teacher. She held on to that dream until she heard the news about the high demand for nurses abroad. When she reached high school, nursing suddenly became a trending course for college students in the Philippines due to the increase in job opportunities available for nurses in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and the Middle East.

“I gave up my childhood dream of becoming a teacher because I really wanted to work abroad,” Ms Entrampas said.

Her father also worked overseas as a member of a crew ship since she was young.

For most Filipinos, working overseas was seen as the ticket to escaping the poor economic conditions in their country.

Ms Entrampas during their college graduation in 2010 (Photo courtesy: Katrina Entrampas)

It was the 6th of April in 2010 when Ms Entrampas finally received her college diploma in Nursing in the Philippines. She immediately reviewed for the board exam and received her license as a Registered Nurse in March 2011.

She volunteered in a public hospital for one month just to earn a certificate and decided to venture into other jobs while figuring out what country she should work for as a nurse.

Ms Entrampas said at that time, nurses in Philippine public hospitals only received a monthly salary of P 15,000 (A$ 500) while nurses in private hospitals were paid P 8,000 (A$ 266.67) every month.

“Plus you have a lot of deductions so there’s really not much left for your basic needs. Filipino nurses were and still are underpaid. A family can hardly survive with those wages,” she said.

85% of Filipino nurses are working outside the country

A total of 2, 457 Filipino nurse migrants to Australia have been recorded from 2010-2014

By 2025, Australia is expected to have a shortage of 109,000 nurses

Filipino Nurses in the BPO Sector

Ms Entrampas decided to work as a call center agent and as an English tutor for Korean students instead.

“At least as a call center agent, I was able to save a little money for my application abroad,” she narrated.

She first applied for a tourist visa in 2012 and worked as a babysitter for her nephews and nieces for three months. Because of her limited approved stay, she had to go back to the Philippines shortly.

“I learned about how much I could possibly earn if I worked as a nurse here in Australia and I told myself that I was definitely coming back,” she said.

For Filipino nurses to apply for work in Australia, they should pass a mandatory Occupational English Test (OET) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. They are also required to pass specific examinations in Australian nursing theory and practice to receive nurse registration, or complete a registered nurse bridging program.

Ms Entrampas learned that the fastest way to go back to Australia was by securing a student visa and working her way towards earning Permanent Residency through points testing. This in fact, is the technique used by most Filipinos today in order to secure a ticket to the land down under.

She came back to Australia in 2013 with her student visa after enrolling in a certificate course in Aged Care. The process was not easy, as she had to borrow P 1.5 million or more than A$45,450 for her bank statement requirement for her visa application. On top of this, she had to pay her tuition and visa processing fee, as well as her airfare expenses.

“My family made such a huge investment for me to be able to get here. This motivated me to work very hard,” she said.

In Sydney, she juggled three jobs at a time. She worked in a nursing home, became a nanny, and cleaned people’s houses just to pay the bills.

“My day was like, study, work, work, work, study. I barely had time to rest,” she said.

Ms Entrampas during their college graduation in 2010 (Photo courtesy: Katrina Entrampas)

As an Assistant in Nursing (AIN), she earned A$21 an hour, which was even bigger than the daily minimum wage of nurses in the Philippines.

“What I earned in a week in the Philippines, I earned in a day in Australia. So I really didn’t mind cleaning after old people or scrubbing dirty toilets,” she said.

She was able to pay her loans after a few months and managed to save enough money so that she could enroll in a Bachelor’s degree in an Australian University and become a Registered Nurse in Australia. She could then gain enough points for permanent residency and would no longer have to pay for tuition fees to remain in the country.

Depending on the state, Australian registered nurses earn at least A$27 per hour. In Queensland for example, they receive an hourly rate of A$35.34.

Next year, Ms Entrampas will earn her second bachelor degree in Nursing, this time in Australia, and she can hardly wait for that day.

Living Abroad

Although the compensation is great, Ms Entrampas said living away from home is very difficult. She had to adjust to a lot of things—the lifestyle, culture, even the weather.

She said she battled depression and homesickness especially during the winter when everything felt gloomy.

“After my first two months, I wanted to go home so badly. I missed the Philippines so much,” she narrated.

“It breaks my heart that I was caring for other people in a foreign land but I could not take care of my own family when they were sick.”

Finding fellow Filipino nurses in school and in her workplace helped ease the loneliness she felt. They try to squeeze in fun activities into their schedule every now and then to shake the blues away.

Ms Entrampas says if only working conditions for nurses in the Philippines were desirable, they would not leave at all.

Aside from watching Filipino telenovelas together, Ms Entrampas and her fellow Filipino nurses bond at home by singing acoustic songs. In this video, they sing “Hawak Kamay,” which means “We’re in this journey together”

Nursing Shortage in Australia vis-a-vis Philippine ‘Brain Drain’

Filipino nurses continue to flock to Australia to earn a higher income. Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection has recorded a total of 2,457 Filipino nurse migrants to Australia from 2010-2014, who were either sponsored by employers or gained permanent residency through Points Tested Skilled Migration. These figures do not yet include the number of Filipino nurses who were granted an Australian visa by enrolling as international students like Ms Entrampas.

This might sound favorable to Australian healthcare institutions, especially after a report from Health Workforce Australia in 2012 revealed that the country will face a shortage of 109,000 nurses by 2025. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) stated that short-term shortages in nursing and midwifery positions have been addressed by hiring skilled migrants.

The study by Lorenzo et al. (2007) shows that there is a higher number of internationally employed Filipino nurses

Although Australia can benefit from the influx of Filipino nurses, the Philippines on the other hand has been losing its healthcare workforce. According to a health worker migration case study commissioned by the International Labor Organization, 85% of Filipino nurses are working outside the country. The study cited a report from the Philippine Hospital Association in 2005 stating that 200 hospitals have closed due to shortages of doctors and nurses, while 800 hospitals have partially closed for the same reason.

The Philippine Senate has already approved the Comprehensive Nursing Law of 2015 increasing the salary of nurses in public hospitals to P25, 000 (A$ 758) per month however, this is yet to be implemented.

Nurses in private Philippine hospitals on the other hand, still await government intervention for their salary increase.

Ms Toledo during her last few days of work in a private Philippine hospital (Photo courtesy: Cyrene Toledo)

Cyrene Toledo, who has been working as a private hospital nurse for more than three years, said nothing has changed since 2011. Until her last month of work in January, she only received P 10, 000 (A$ 303) monthly in exchange for work that demanded a 1:10 nurse-to-patient ratio.

“Had I not ventured into online selling, I would not have survived those three years,” she said.

She is now working as a nurse in Singapore.

“Unless the government makes concrete actions to make us stay, they will continue to lose their health care workers,” she commented.

The challenge for ethical recruitment

With an average nurse age of 50, Australia is challenged to achieve self-sufficiency in nursing in the future, and will continue to depend on inviting and hiring international nursing graduates. However, such recruitment drains human capital from developing countries such as the Philippines. The worldwide thirst for nurses trained in developing countries needs to be turned into a mutually beneficial phenomenon.

According to the WHO Code of Conduct on International Recruitment of Health Personnel, developed countries need to consider sustainable health services planning, training and education in order to reduce dependence on migrant health workers. Developing countries on the other hand, need to improve workers’ compensation to avoid emigration of professionals.

Ms Entrampas, who migrated to Oz to make ends meet, is still waiting for the day where Filipino nurses do not have to leave. Like Dorothy in search for the Wizard of Oz, she too has realized that “There’s no place like home.”

According to the data researched by the National Volunteering Strategy, growth in volunteering is obvious. More people are volunteering but for less time than in the past. The number of adult volunteers almost doubled from 3.2 million in 1995 to 6.1 million in 2010. It seems a good trend that more people would like to join in the voluntary work.

However, with the experience of voluntary work, I found, during the volunteers, the quantity of international students is more than local students, which seems to be a little strange and unbelievable. I want to search for more evidence about this to make sure whether the situation is generally true or not but there are less report and information about the doubt. It will be an effective way to go to some voluntary institution to ask for related voluntary records about volunteers.

My feature news article aims to explore whether international students volunteer more than local students. Besides, I will discover the reasons why international do voluntary work and to find out the meaning of volunteering.

I’m going to start my news article by sharing the experience that I did voluntary work for MS organization and the feeling I got during the work. And I plan to make several interviews on 2 international students and 2 local students about their attitudes and their experience on volunteering. Considering clarify the truth that in recent years whether international students do more voluntary work than local students, I need to have an interview on the person who work for voluntary organization to collect more exact information.

It may be no use just focusing the truth. I want to present more potential stories and meanings behind volunteer. The purpose of news article is not just to make sure on the doubt that I put forward before but to attract public attention to show more cares about vulnerable groups and attract more people to try their best to help others.

Even though the data or statistics I explore from individual voluntary organizations cannot prove the whole situation but it still could reflect some reality. I plan to ask international students, why they would like to do such voluntary work in the country which is not their motherland, is there any difficulties during the work and I find more international students do voluntary work than locals, do you have the same feeling. When facing local students, I will ask them the times or period they provide on voluntary work, the reason they do this work, and the reason you think people don’t want to do voluntary work.

Tasmanian Devils have been described as the vacuum cleaners of forest, because their scavenging eating habit. The scientific name of Tasmanian Devil is Sarcophilus harrissi, a member of the family Dasyuridae. Tasmanian Devils are not popular among people as Koalas or Kangaroos. For foreigners, if they do not come to visit Australia they may not know about this kind of animals. As one of unique animals of Tasmanian State in Australia, Tasmanian Devils become the logo of many organisations in Tasmania State for gaining more popularity and public awareness. In addition, there is a cartoon character called Taz of Looney Tunes cartoon.

The situation of Tasmanian Devils, however, is heartbreaking. Because the eating habit of Devils, some Devils are killed by passing-car on the road. Moreover, the number of Tasmanian Devils is killed by the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). This kind of tumour is infectious among Devils, which resulting Devils cannot eat, be blind and die. The infection of DFTD might because of the immune and genetic system of Devils. The population of Devils is keeping reduce because these two main factors and other reasons.

** FILE ** A Oct. 3, 2007 file supplied photo of a Tasmanian devil stuffering a deadly facial tumour disease. Scientists believe they have made a major breakthrough in the fight to save Tasmanian devils from a deadly facial tumour disease that is decimating their numbers. (AAP Image/University of Sydney) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

I have kept following the situation of Tasmanian Devils since the first semester of 2015. I am really interested in this kind of animal and needs someone to represent the current situation of the Devils that they are facing extinction. I have kept in touch with Doctor Catherine Grueber— one of postdoctoral fellow of San Diego Zoo to join in the group of the University of Sydney to the Saving Tasmanian Devils Program. I would like to interview her or other teammates of her if Catherine not available during this period. I would like to obtain professional and official information about the situation and population of Tasmanian Devils. San Diego Zoo of America, the Government of Tasmania have the program of saving Tasmanian Devils. Moreover, for engaging the research of Tasmanian Devils and DFTD, there is the scholarship and with a combination of public donations and corporate support for devil vaccine project for Tasmanian Devil.

In another aspect, compare with panda of China, Tasmanian Devils lack the public awareness both in the domestic area and international field. Even there are some projects and program trying to save and protect Devils, publics still do not pay more attention on the potential extinction of Tasmanian Devil. Many different cartoons have the adorable panda characters, for example the Kong Fu Panda. But for Tasmanian Devils, Taz seems scared for people to accept.

VS

The ideal online publications for my feature, I would like the natural or environmental part of some influential websites. These popular websites may attract more attention. At present, most of people familiar with “fast food” culture, but the information about the current situation of Devils should not be ignored and covered instantly without any public awareness about the population of Tasmanian Devils declined.

In 13, January, 2016, Jamie Freed who is a journalist in Sydney Morning Herald reported a news named “Annual Chinese visitor numbers exceed 1 million for first time”. In this press, Jamie stated that the phenomenon about Chinese visitor is a big group of Australian traveling market. Chinese visitors cost $ 7.7 billion annual in Australia.

According to the Tourism Australia report in 2013 the total spend of Chinese is $ 4.8 billion. Between 2003 to 2013, education took the first place in the purpose of visit. Traveling for the holiday has increasing trend. The data shows that more and more Chinese like to travel to Australia for their holiday.

Owing to that the air quality of China is awful. PM 2.5 is the most significant air issue for Chinese society. PM 2.5 is not like a normal air pollution, it will have terrible influence in human healthy. So many Chinese visitor like to travel to Australia for the clean and clear air.

Story Angle

In my feature story, I want to explore the deep reason of Chinese travelers to Australia. The air quality may is one of the reasons of Chinese visitors travel to Australia. However, there may different reasons for Chinese visitor. Owing to that the whole world communication and development of information and technology, Chinese visitor prefer to travel abroad to feel different lifestyle in different country under different culture background.

Income of Chinese visitors has developed, they will have enough economy to support their traveling requirement. Some of them want to visit their children, because they are international students. So the reason of their traveling need to be explored. Moreover these reasons will give some view for Australian government and organization to develop the policy to enhance visitor to build the traveling market.

The way that Chinese travelers chosen is another angle to my feature. Some of them will choose the agency to help them do the whole thing include application of visa, tour route, booking hotel and flights. Some of them prefer to do the plan all by themselves, this is also connect with international traveling mode.

Interviewees

In my feature story, I will interview a manager named Mars of a travel agency only for Chinese visitor, he is my personal friend. His agency will give the specific opinion for the Chinese customization travel. They will have the information that the reason of Chinese visitors travel to Australia. They will give analysis of market report of the influence on Australian tourism by Chinese visitor.

I also will interview Chinese visitor in Australia right now. To find the real reason that they choose Australia not the US or other countries.

Finally, I will interview some journalists and professors in order to discuss the effect on Australian travel market.

Target Publication

Tourism Australia: a corporate of tourism in Australia which have the report and data analysis of Chinese tourist in Australia.